I have just had a long meeting about the Cork International Choir Festival with another singing facilitator and I am now aware of the enormity of the enterprise of hosting an Acabellas trip to Ireland in 2026. I am prepared to do it but the only way forward is precise, clear, well-timed communication. I will also need very firm boundaries around that communication for my role to be sustainable. Please understand my tone is never intended to be rude or impersonal. I have only three things to share about the festival at this stage.

1. It is called the Cork International Choral Festival and the dates of the 2026 festival are 29 April – 03 May 2026. To be part of the Acabellas trip, you would need to be in Cork from 28^th April p.m. until 04 May a.m without exception. 
2. The first step of the trip is Expressing Interest. The only way you can do that is by completing the form on the acabellas website on the IRELAND page. There are no exceptions to that. The website will be the only way I will be able to communicate the messages about Ireland
3. I need to apply for us to be accepted into the festival and that will be fairly onerous task in and of itself. If I receive a viable number of expressions of interest (from which I would anticipate half would end up committing) I will do that before the end of November 2024. 

Here is the link to the form. It is the only way to express interest.

I really encourage everyone to consider the trip. I hope the Tassie 2023 experience demonstrated we can together prepare for something and have a wonderful time doing so, even if only some people do go on the trip. Please do not ask me any questions at this stage and, although I appreciate the intention of offers of assistance, none are required at this stage. 

Again, I hope you understand the tone – things are only ever really fun and excellent if there is great backstage preparation. 🙂

Belinda